Ukraine was pressing ahead with efforts to restart grain exports from Odesa and other Black Sea ports after a missile attack that cast doubt over whether Russia would honour a deal aimed at easing global food shortages caused by the war.
DIPLOMACY, ECONOMY
* Zelenskyy said Russian missile strikes on Odesa was blatant “barbarism” showing Moscow could not be trusted to implement a landmark new deal to unblock grain exports.
* The UN, EU, US, Britain, Germany and Italy condemned the strikes. Turkey’s Defence Minister said Russian officials had told Ankara that Moscow had “nothing to do” with the Odesastrikes.
* A senior US Congressional delegation, including Representative Adam Smith, chair of the House Armed Services Committee, met ZelenskYy in Kyiv and promised to try to ensure continued support in the war.
* The EU is seeking additional gas supplies from Nigeria as the bloc prepares for potential Russian supply cuts, a European Commission energy official said.
FIGHTING
* Ukraine’s defence ministry urged citizens in and around the Russian-occupied southern city of Enerhoder, home to a nuclear power station, to reveal where Moscow’s troops were living and who among the population was collaborating with Russian officials.
* Ukrainian forces are gradually moving into the eastern Kherson region, which was taken over by Russia at the start of the war, Zelenskyy said. The Russian-installed authority said abridge in had been hit by Western-supplied HIMARS rockets but the bridge still worked, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.
